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Reflections on Pentecost 2024
Author: Doug Beacham
Several years ago, I had the experience of celebrating Pentecost twice in the same year. In the United States Susan and I participated in a Pentecost Sunday service. A few weeks later I was visiting the IPHC Bethany church in Oradea, Romania where I was reminded that I would be preaching on Pentecost Sunday. Though I intellectually knew that often Western and Eastern Christianity used different dates based on either the Gregorian calendar (Western Christianity) or the Julian calendar (Eastern Christianity), it was the first time I had experienced it. The good news is that it did not pose a problem and allowed me the opportunity to reflect twice on the Biblical themes that are part of the name of the Pentecostal Holiness Church.
So, today, May 19th, is Pentecost Sunday in the Western church, and June 23rd will be Pentecost Sunday in most of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. If you wish to experience both, make your plans to visit Romania or Ukraine, or your local Greek Orthodox congregation!
Regardless the date, there are certain Biblical themes we should remember as we celebrate the meaning of Acts 2 and the usual Pentecostal emphases.
Pentecost, which is based on the Greek for “fifty,” is called the Feast of Weeks in the Jewish Scriptures (Exodus 23:16, “feast of harvest”; 34:22; Leviticus 23:15-22; Numbers 28:26-31; Deuteronomy 16:9-12). From a Christian perspective, this feast occurred fifty days following the resurrection of Jesus, and within those days, ten days from Jesus’ Ascension. During those forty days from resurrection to ascension, Jesus met with His followers and spoke “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). From the conclusion of the Gospel records, we gain additional insight into those “things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
No doubt those things included insights from the Pentateuch referenced above (Luke 24:25-27). Here are a few thoughts from those Old Testament passages as we reflect on Pentecost for us as a church and how we live in this present darkness.
First, Leviticus 23:22 concludes the celebration with a reminder that we are to remember “the poor and the stranger” as we enjoy the blessings of the fruit of our labor. This morning as I read Proverbs 19, I was struck by verse 17, “He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given.” When we see someone in need and respond with what the Lord has blessed us, we are not giving to that needy person, we are lending to the Lord. We are viewing Jesus in that person regardless of what they look like or how they live.
Second, Deuteronomy 16 mentions four action verbs that flow from a Pentecostal experience. We “give as the Lord your God blesses you” (16:10). We “rejoice before the Lord you God,” and that rejoicing is for all in or out of our household. Verse 11 includes “the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you.” We remember that we were slaves in Egypt, in other words, we do not forget what it means to be in bondage to and delivered from the power of sin. Finally, we shall be careful to observe what the Lord has commanded us in His holy Word.
From the east to the west may we as “Pentecostal people” enter into the Holy Spirit energized life that demonstrates those “things pertaining to the Kingdom of God!”
Author: Doug Beacham
Several years ago, I had the experience of celebrating Pentecost twice in the same year. In the United States Susan and I participated in a Pentecost Sunday service. A few weeks later I was visiting the IPHC Bethany church in Oradea, Romania where I was reminded that I would be preaching on Pentecost Sunday. Though I intellectually knew that often Western and Eastern Christianity used different dates based on either the Gregorian calendar (Western Christianity) or the Julian calendar (Eastern Christianity), it was the first time I had experienced it. The good news is that it did not pose a problem and allowed me the opportunity to reflect twice on the Biblical themes that are part of the name of the Pentecostal Holiness Church.
So, today, May 19th, is Pentecost Sunday in the Western church, and June 23rd will be Pentecost Sunday in most of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. If you wish to experience both, make your plans to visit Romania or Ukraine, or your local Greek Orthodox congregation!
Regardless the date, there are certain Biblical themes we should remember as we celebrate the meaning of Acts 2 and the usual Pentecostal emphases.
Pentecost, which is based on the Greek for “fifty,” is called the Feast of Weeks in the Jewish Scriptures (Exodus 23:16, “feast of harvest”; 34:22; Leviticus 23:15-22; Numbers 28:26-31; Deuteronomy 16:9-12). From a Christian perspective, this feast occurred fifty days following the resurrection of Jesus, and within those days, ten days from Jesus’ Ascension. During those forty days from resurrection to ascension, Jesus met with His followers and spoke “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). From the conclusion of the Gospel records, we gain additional insight into those “things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
No doubt those things included insights from the Pentateuch referenced above (Luke 24:25-27). Here are a few thoughts from those Old Testament passages as we reflect on Pentecost for us as a church and how we live in this present darkness.
First, Leviticus 23:22 concludes the celebration with a reminder that we are to remember “the poor and the stranger” as we enjoy the blessings of the fruit of our labor. This morning as I read Proverbs 19, I was struck by verse 17, “He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given.” When we see someone in need and respond with what the Lord has blessed us, we are not giving to that needy person, we are lending to the Lord. We are viewing Jesus in that person regardless of what they look like or how they live.
Second, Deuteronomy 16 mentions four action verbs that flow from a Pentecostal experience. We “give as the Lord your God blesses you” (16:10). We “rejoice before the Lord you God,” and that rejoicing is for all in or out of our household. Verse 11 includes “the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you.” We remember that we were slaves in Egypt, in other words, we do not forget what it means to be in bondage to and delivered from the power of sin. Finally, we shall be careful to observe what the Lord has commanded us in His holy Word.
From the east to the west may we as “Pentecostal people” enter into the Holy Spirit energized life that demonstrates those “things pertaining to the Kingdom of God!”